English 151 Final Exam Essay: A Fabricated Mexican

Rick Rivera's novel titled A Fabricated Mexican comes out at times as a hilarious and at times a bittersweet saga of growing up with the American Dream as a primary aim despite having to grow in two cultures. The book outlines Ricky Coronado’s search for his identity a search made even more difficult following his father’s suicide and the pressures placed on him by his strong-willed mother. The narrator is a quiet and mischievous boy who reports on the antics of his close-knit and often eccentric family. Ricky’s family and friends play a significant role in his life. There are some of the characters that have a positive and negative influence on Ricky ranging from the decisions he makes to the man that he eventually becomes. His immediate family including his father, mother, sister, brother and later his step-father and his psychiatrist plays a significant role in his life as well not forgetting this that he met while in college. However, the two people that had the greatest effect on his life were his mother and his psychiatrist. The mother and his stepfather had both negative and positive effects on his life as well as the decisions that he made.

The first character with the biggest influence on Ricky’s life was his mother. Ricky’s mother was a strong and hardworking woman. Ricky was able to rely on his mother and used to run to her for help every time there was an issue that he faced. The mother was strong-willed and held huge dreams for her son. In fact going to college was never Ricky’s idea but the mother and his sister had a vision for him to go to school and she pushed him hard to make the decisions. She was sure that the only way that he would be able to make it was by having a college education. Moreover, during the times of pain and psychological torture, that Ricky faced following his father’s death, and after his girlfriend had left him, he ran to his mother and cried to her as she offered consolation and support to him wholly. He felt secure and in the place while talking to her or enjoying the comfort and love that she showered him with.

However, Ricky mother was overprotective and over guarding Ricky, and this led to him not being able to handle his emotions and to be incapable of making independent decisions. He lacked in assertive skills, as he could not make independent decisions. His immaturity was depicted when he went to college and was left by his girlfriend. As a college student, one would not expect that he would be calling his mother to talk about the loss of his girlfriend and that he could not handle it. The overprotective nature of his mother was also manifested in the way she protected him from his step-father instead of leaving him to fight his battles ops that he could grow to be an independent and assertive man. Indicating his mother's overprotection he says, “I remember my mother’s commandment that Ramon could not lay a hand on me, and if he did, she threatened to light his truck on fire (115).”

The step-father Ramon also played a very significant role in Ricky’s life. He was the father figure that Ricky never had following the death of his father who even when alive did not spend so much time with him since Ricky tells the psychiatrist did not remember much about him. Ramon taught him all the things he would have learned from his father and was the father image that he needed to teach him on the manly chores and activities such teaching him how to hammer a nail and encouraged him to do many other encouraging things. However, Ramon. However, coming of Ramon into Ricky’s family, at first, had brought in bad emotions and affected them in an adverse way before they got acquainted and comfortable with him.

Ricky’s mother played a significant role in shaping the decisions made by Ricky and offered a sense of security and support that he needed. Also, Ramon, his stepfather filled the void left by the death of his biological father as he played the part of the father figure in his life. Therefore, they are the two most important characters that influenced Ricky’s life.